INSTRUMENTATION & CH415

PROCESS CONTROL Lecture III

For the following automatic control systems commonly
encountered in daily life, identify the devices that perform
the measurement (M), decision (D), and action (A)
functions, and classify the action function as “On/Off’ or
“Regulating.” Also draw a process diagram, and determine
whether the control is feedback or feedforward.
(a) House air conditioning/heating
(b) Cooking oven
(c) Toaster
(d) Automatic sprinkler system for fires
(e) Automobile cruise speed control
(f) Refrigerator

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 DOUBLE PIPE HEAT EXCHANGER.
FORCED DRAUGHT COOLING TOWER.
BOILER.
REACTOR WITH EXOTHERMIC REACTION.
REACTOR WITH ENDOTHERMIC REACTION.
DRYER.
SINGLE STAGE PD COMPRESSOR. (T)

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INTRODUCTION TO CASCADE
CONTROL
Feedback control is the simplest form of automatic process control that
compensates for process upsets. However, the disadvantage of
feedback control is that it reacts only after the process has been upset.
That is, when a disturbance enters the process, it has to propagate
through the process and make the controlled variable deviate from set
point before feedback takes corrective action. Thus a deviation in the
controlled variable is needed to initiate corrective action.
Even with this disadvantage, probably 80% of all control strategies
used in industrial practice are simple feedback control. In these cases,
the control performance provided by feedback is satisfactory for
safety, product quality, and production rate.
As the processes requirements tighten, however, and in processes with
slow dynamics and processes with too many, or frequently occurring,
upsets, the control performance provided by feedback control often
becomes unacceptable. It is necessary to use other strategies to provide
the required performance.
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INTRODUCTION TO CASCADE
CONTROL
The strategies presented complement feedback control; they do
not replace it. Remember that it is always necessary to provide
some feedback from the controlled variable. Cascade control is a
strategy that improves, in some applications significantly, the
performance provided by feedback control. This strategy has
long been well known.
Computers provide a simpler, safer, and less costly
implementation of cascade control than is obtained by the use of
analog instrumentation. Therefore, cascade control is
implemented more often now, with computers available, than it
was when analog instrumentation alone was used.

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CASCADE CONTROL

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 CASCADE CONTROL
Consider the furnace/preheater and reactor
process shown in Fig. In this process,
reaction A B occurs in the reactor.
Reactant A is usually available at a low
temperature, so it must be heated
somewhat before being fed to the reactor.
The reaction is exothermic, and to remove
the heat of reaction, a cooling jacket
surrounds the reactor.

The important controlled variable is the temperature in the reactor, TR.The

original control strategy called for controlling this temperature by manipulating
the flow of coolant to the jacket. The inlet reactant temperature to the reactor was
controlled by manipulating the fuel valve. It was noticed during the start-up of
this process that the cooling jacket could not provide the cooling capacity
required; the cooling valve was open almost all the time. Thus it was decided to
open the cooling valve completely and control the reactor temperature by
manipulating the fuel to the preheater, as shown in the figure.
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 CASCADE CONTROL

This strategy worked well enough, providing automatic control during start-up. Once
the process was “lined-out,” the process engineer noticed that every so often the
reactor temperature would move from set point enough to make off-spec product.
After checking the feedback controller tuning to be sure that the performance obtained
was the best possible, the engineer started to look for possible process disturbances.
Several upsets were found around the reactor itself, cooling fluid temperature and
fluid flow variations, etc. and others around the furnace variations in inlet temperature
of reactant A, in heating value of fuel, in inlet temperature of combustion air, etc.
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CASCADE CONTROL
Furthermore, the engineer noticed that every once in a while the
inlet reactant temperature to the heater would vary by as much as 25°C
certainly a major upset. It is fairly simple to realize that the effect of an
upset in the furnace results first in a change in the reactant exit
temperature from the furnace, TH and that this then affects the reactor
temperature, TR. Once the controller senses the error in TR, it manipulates
the signal to the fuel valve.
However, with so many lags in the process, furnace plus reactor,
it will take a considerable amount of time to bring the reactor temperature
back to set point.
Because of these lags, the simple feedback control shown in the
figure will result in cycling and in general sluggish control.

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CASCADE CONTROL
A superior control strategy can be designed by
making use of the fact that the upsets in the furnace
first affect TH. Thus it is logical to start
manipulating the fuel valve as soon as a variation in
TH is sensed, before TR starts to change.
That is, the idea is not to wait for an error in TR to
start changing the manipulated variable. This
control strategy uses an intermediate variable, TH in
this case, to reduce the effect of some dynamics in
the process. This is the idea behind cascade control,
and it is shown in the following figure.

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CASCADE CONTROL

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CASCADE CONTROL

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CASCADE CONTROL
This strategy consists of two sensors, two
transmitters, two controllers, and one control
valve. One sensor measures the intermediate, or
secondary, variable, TH in this case, and the other
sensor measures the primary controlled variable,
TR. Thus this strategy results in two control
loops: one loop controlling TH, and the other loop
controlling TR. To repeat, the furnace exit
temperature is used only as an intermediate
variable to improve the control of the reactor
temperature, which is the important control
objective (controlled variable).
The strategy works as follows: Controller TClOl looks at the reactor temperature
and decides how to manipulate the furnace outlet temperature to satisfy its set point.
This decision is passed on to TC102 in the form of a set point. TC102 in turn manipulates
the signal to the fuel valve to maintain TH at the set point required by TClOl. If
one of the upsets mentioned earlier enters the furnace, TH deviates from set point and
TC102 takes corrective action right away, before TR changes. Thus the dynamic elements
of the process have been separated to compensate for upsets in the furnace before
they affect the primary controlled variable.
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 CASCADE CONTROL

In general, the controller that keeps the

primary variable at set point is referred
to as the master controller, outer
controller, or primary controller. The
controller used to maintain the secondary
variable at the set point required by the
master controller is usually referred to as
the slave controller, inner controller, or
secondary controller. The terminology
primary/secondary is commonly
preferred for systems with more than
two cascaded loops, because it extends
naturally.

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 CASCADE CONTROL
Figure shows the response of the
process to a - 25°C change in inlet
reactant temperature under simple
feedback control and under cascade
control. The improvement is very
significant and probably pays for the
added expenses in no time.
The following must be stressed: In
designing cascade control strategies,
the most important consideration is
that the inner loop must be faster than
the outer loop and the faster the
better.
This requirement makes sense, and it
is extended to any number of cascade
loops.

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CASCADE CONTROL

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CASCADE CONTROL

Cascade control schemes applied to heat

exchanger temperature control.
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